Which, in Newfoundland, is an actual holiday. And also a great source of consternation to Newfoundlanders I am told, because it comes in the middle of Lent when everyone is supposed to be giving up the drink. No one seemed to realise that you could celebrate the day without getting pie eyed. None of the legends and stories associated with Patrick have anything to do with drinking as far as I can tell. There is another tradition here about the weather called Shelagh's brush. It is 'the last' storm about the time of St. Patrick's Day. Tradition states that if it is before St. Patrick's Day, the spring will be long and miserable, but if it is after, it is Shelagh removing the last of winter with her brush or broom and the spring will be nice. Last Thursday we had a bit of a squall that dumped a lot of mixed snow, ice, rain, sleet, and freezing ice pellets on us for 15 hours and people started talking about Shelagh and a long miserable spring. Yesterday we had a blizzard with high winds and a foot of snow. Studyboy remarked that Shelagh must have brought the whole cleaning cart with her. Tonight we are forecast to get two more feet of snow. Apparently she's contracted out to a Merry Maids this year.
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